It is known to form a lower-body garment such as a panty from a circularly knit tubular blank by cutting away one or more regions of the blank to form portions that can subsequently be joined together in the crotch area to make leg openings, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,115. Such a panty is desirable from an aesthetic standpoint because it does not have any seams in the torso-encircling part of the panty that might be unsightly under a wearer's clothes, and is advantageous from a manufacturing standpoint because only a minimal amount of sewing need be performed to form the finished panty.
It is also known to form a bodysuit from a seamless knit tubular blank by cutting away regions of the blank to define leg openings and a crotch portion that can subsequently be joined to the rear panel of the bodysuit, and wherein the crotch portion has a modified knit construction such as a construction having a terry pile surface on the side facing the wearer, as shown in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,060, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In the '060 patent, a tubular blank is used for fashioning a single bodysuit. The present invention represents a further development of the technology exemplified in the '060 patent as applied to the manufacture of garments such as panties, briefs, bodysuits, brassieres, or the like, enabling a more-efficient usage of material.